We had simultaneous racing this past week – kind of like synchronised swimming except, um, nothing like that at all. Anyway, we had drama on the downhill at Paris-Nice on Saturday and drama on the uphill at Tirreno-Adriatico on Sunday. Rest assured we had drama on Twitter every day!

Gallopin’ Gallopin!

Saturday’s stage was cold and wet and very tiring. It was a long stage and the guys were feeling it. When even Heinrich Haussler looks miserable in conditions that he normally thrives in, you know it was a long, hard day.

It’s good to see that the guys in the gruppetto still help each other out, regardless of team affiliation.

One thing was for sure – Tony Gallopin picked up a lot of fans (and some big shout-outs from the peloton) for his solo ride to victory on Saturday.

Did you notice the tweet from Gustav Larsson in the stream above? His choice of days to attempt the hour record was maybe not the most astute. Two mega-races with just about everyone who’s anyone in one or the other of the pelotons? Not only did he not break the record, he didn’t get much coverage either.

And speaking of disappointment, we knew it would almost certainly come to this. Tony losing the yellow jersey on the last stage – an individual time trial – to Richie Porte. This is how much it hurt.

Chava corner

Sylvain Chavanel – the name I like to say most of all – just looks so marvelous in his IAM kit (*the* best kit in the peloton this season – or perhaps any season), I had to include these pics. Oh, and check out the tricolour skinsuit. #ClassForSure Speaking of time trials and special jerseys, wasn’t someone else supposed to be in the TT on Sunday? So far I have not found an explanation as to why Bradley Wiggins decided not to ride. Tweeters below had their theories. Trying to bow out without ceremony? Doubtful in that he’s got another month of racing. He had a special painted car and everything! Curiouser and curiouser.

I think we might have found a branch of family that Michal Kwiatkowski might want to look up on Ancestors.com when he gets a chance.

Before the snows

It wasn’t all about the snow at Tirreno-Adriatico this weekend. It was also about aquamen, frogs and cats.

Unfortunately, the Velvet Samurai is not really doing much in the way of winning this year. And we know what the boss thinks about *that*. {NEWS JUST IN: yes, Sagan has in fact won Monday’s stage at Tirreno-Adriatico. Oleg is calling to say congratulations!}

Wout Poels looks to have a backup career for when he retires.

Sleigh bells ring, are you listening?

It was as if we went back to Christmas time, with its snowflakes and twinkling lights. Yes, Sunday’s stage was unbelievable. Reminiscent of Milan-San Remo a few years ago – especially the frozen helmet heads.

Two of my favourite tweeters – Dan Wuori and, of course, My Beloved Panache™ – took advantage of the situation to make a sweet little bauble for us to remember the race by.

The (thawed) gruppetto

I don’t know what happened here, but it looks like Eddy wasn’t invincible after all.

Soon, it will be time for the ArgoSunGod to rise again and sprint to victory!

Is it just me or does Koen de Kort look like Vitas Gerulaitis in these shots of his mullet days?

Do any of you even know who Vitas Gerulaitis was? (Note to self: age is showing.)

It would seem that the UCI have invested in some new wheels! Who ya gonna call?